


To This Ending

by agirlnamedtruth



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Episode: s05e12-13 The Diamond of the Day, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-06
Updated: 2013-03-06
Packaged: 2017-12-04 11:42:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/710419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agirlnamedtruth/pseuds/agirlnamedtruth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At Camlann, Merlin deliberates on fate even though it's too late to change it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To This Ending

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Writerverse](http://writerverse.livejournal.com)'s weekly quick fic prompts 'Beginnings & Ends', 'A Better Idea' and the bonus 'no dialogue'.
> 
> Mentions of character deaths, attempted murder, near child death, spoilers for 5x13.

Merlin glanced down at Mordred’s body as he stepped over it to get to Arthur. He didn’t need to check for a pulse, he could feel his cold and empty body without touching it, all the magic had gone from it.

He couldn’t help but remember how Kilgharrah had encouraged him to let Mordred die as a boy, before any of this could come to pass. But his heart and his stomach wouldn’t let him do it, even if his head had known it was better than what could come to pass, what had passed now, if he lived. Was this end really better than one at the hands of Camelot’s knights and Uther’s judgment? Would he have been any less dead? No. But this day might not have been realised.

He glanced back at Morgana sprawled on the dirt where he had thrown her from the rocks. Kilgharrah had said he’d be better off letting her die too. Would that be better than this? Would the memory of a gentle Morgana be better than the reality of her twisted and mad? Would it have been better if the poison he’d given her had lingered in her long enough to render her freed of this path she’d chosen?

Would it have been a better idea to listen to Kilgharrah? Or would he have ended up here no matter what? Which beginning would have been best to avoid such an end that they all had been given?

Despite the power that ran through him now, he couldn’t answer any of his own questions. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to know. Knowing what could have been done to prevent this day, to be certain of it, would have destroyed him.


End file.
